After last season saw us garner our highest finish in the Israeli football pyramid (a very creditable 8th we start where we usually do and look at the seasons odds. As we are used to we are at the bottom of the odds list. Although at 451 it is a vast improvement from the previous season where we were 1001! Maybe we have a chance this season. We have defied the odds each and every season so instead of looking at relegation we will be trying to improve our position.
To help us out we were very active in the transfer market. I alluded to in the previous post that I was trying to not rely on loans, it didn’t quite work out that way, as we brought in quite a few temporary players. Flavio Henrique came in on trial and performed really well so we managed to get him on loan. Murtezic comes in on loan with a future optional fee, he is a young French striker who we hope will score us the goals to propel us up the league. We have added some depth to the squad as well, and some young players for the future (Dajani, and Ozeri). We smashed our transfer record with the signing of left midfielder Itzhak. Our transfer budget was not fully used for transfers, we amended it to add some space in the wage budget. We are still within budget and with another season in the Premier League our finances are looking healthier, wages are going up and we have the capacity to spend a bit more on transfers.
We managed to place some of our youngsters and fringe players out on loan. Milad is one I wanted to get some game time. He isn’t quite ready for our first team yet, but he has the potential so getting him out to get some first team experience will be key to his development.
For the first time we had someone in the table for the favourites for one of the leagues awards. Dan Gross, who was last season’s league top scorer, was listed in the odds for this season’s top scorer. Let’s see how he manages to fare this season? Although I don’t think he will be the main man this season as Murtezic looks like the player we will be looking to this season to score the goals.
We looked to retain the annual early season Toto Cup. But a run of results saw us reach the semi-finals, before a heavy defeat. We continued our good run of form against Beitar Jerusalem with a thumping 3-1 victory. One of the goals in the save is to create a rivalry with someone. This is still in progress. If we can keep beating Beitar it will be a start. I still keep getting the message when trying to loan their players that there is still bad relationship between the sides.
The Gvia HaMedina, as discussed last time out, was a route to Europe which would really enhance our finances and reputation. It wasn’t a straight forward to say the least. We were drawn against top division sides throughout. Requiring penalties in our first encounter and an extra time against “rivals” Beitar in a sell-out Eighth Final meeting. The QF saw us easily defeat Hapoel Hafia before needing another extra time winner in the semi. This saw us into our first FA Cup final. One more win and we would be in the Europa Conference League. But could we get there in the league as a backup!
At the split of the season we sit in 5th place. It was a tight run, only 2 points separated 4th to 7th. We needed to remain in form in the last few games to ensure we could get into the Championship playoff (reserved for the top 6 teams). We made that, registering our highest league finish in the process. In the main we had a decent regular season, December and January were a bit difficult, and our twelve games saw a return of 5 wins and 7 loses. Although we only lost 3 games outside of this run. League position through the season was quite consistent, we were always in touch with those above us. A few good victories and a good run of form could see us in fourth at least.
Our final 10 games of the season saw us gather 20 points and saw us move up into third place on goal difference ahead of Maccabi Haifa, who had a drastic loss of form to finish below us. Our arch rivals Beitar claimed the title by four points.
Two games before the end of our league campaign saw us in our first proper cup final. A match against the aforementioned Maccabi Haifa and there poor run of form. A memorable day ensued and we claimed our first national title. We were the Gvia HaMedina winners and would be plying our trade on the continental scene next season. Third place in the league and a cup win. This is surely the best season in the history of FC Jerusalem.
Since the board were expecting us to just fight bravely against relegation we really upset the odds and outperformed all expectations.
To cap it off I managed to take the coveted Manager of the Year award for the second successive season. Grizolet managed to get into the Team of the Year, and finish third in the Player of the Year. A further three players were selected in the Team of the Year, and Lakou was second top scorer in the league (albeit on appearances.
From a club perspective Lakou, Itzhak and Grizolet took the accolades.
The season was a commercial success with all but Broadcast revenue significantly higher than last season, and with a European campaign next season this should increase once again, firmly putting our financial status in a good footing.
We had a poor youth intake again. The board are not really bothered about increasing our facilities in this area. They seem more concerned that we sign players ready for first team action than developing our own. It will be something I will continue to push for over the coming seasons. Hopefully at some point we can find a single player who might have the potential ability to fight for a place in the first team. We do continue to sign young players with this kind of potential ability, but it is always much nicer to develop one of our own.
Next season we have the added bonus of a Europa Conference League campaign to combat with. Additional strength in depth will certain be required if we are to mount a serious challenge. I have little doubt it will be a tough test. With only 6 foreign players allowed in our league squad we will be mostly relying on a squad made up of Israelis. The better stars will surely cost us a fair amount of money. Our transfer budget will be in the region of half a million, which won’t get us an awful lot of players. So once again I will be looking to the loan market and snapping up those free transfers. We are on the limit for foreign stars so unless I can ship one or two out we will mostly be looking to young, promising Israeli talent. Hopefully my role as Israel U21 manager can help in signing some of the better available players.
As we have improved our position season upon season, I will be looking to carry on this next season. If we do we will be on the verge of Champions League qualification which will be a real success. This will be our 10th season, and considering we started in tier 5 we have done remarkably well to get this far.
How will we fare? Can we mount a title challenge? Will we be able to reach the Europa Conference League Group stage and its riches? You will have to find out.
FM RioSantos 